|
Gefilte Fish Recipe
Aviva Goldstein
There is probably no food that is
considered 'Jewish' like the Gefilte Fish. It seems that every other
joke ends with or contains some reference to it.
Every Ashkenazic Jew can seem to trace
in his roots some meal that contains gefilte fish. There is no
getting around it, if a person has never eaten gefilte fish,
he is probably not Jewish.
There are many different ways to
prepare gefilte fish. The Hungarians like their gefilte
fish very sweet – too sweet for me. Others have mixed several
types of fish to give a different taste. I have listed below a recipe
that I have used successfully for years in my house for gefilte
fish.
Most people like to serve gefilte
fish with charain (horseradish sauce) but one of my
sons-in-law likes it with techina! Even my husband who is not fond of
fish likes to bury the gefilte fish in gobs of strong
horseradish.
Many people have made it part of their
Shabbat dinners, and even those who don't like to serve gefilte
fish for their Yom Tov holiday meals. Some how by including gefilte
fish in the meal plan, people feel more connected with their Jewish
roots and the meal becomes more of a traditional meal.
I once heard, and I can not verify if
it is true, that the reason that gefilte fish became so
popular in Europe in the past several centuries was that there is a
halachic problem with eating fish. What is that? On the
Shabbat it is forbidden to 'separate' things into two groups by
removing the undesired from the desired. When eating fish, a person
must separate the fish from the bone. He is allowed to take the food
from the bone, but not take the bone from the food. Since this is
considered a very big sin, the rabbis encouraged eating gefilte
fish since there is no problem of separating whereas by eating
regular food one could come to sin. Whether this is true or not, I
can not attest to, but I suggest that you ask your rabbi for the real
halachic view.
Here is the recipe for the gefilte
fish that I make. It is very popular in my house and I urge you to
try it in yours.
Gefilte Fish Recipe
This is a two part recipe:
Part One: Fish Broth:
Make this broth first, boil it up,
and then, afterwords, we will put our gefilte fish balls into the
boiling broth:
Ingredients:
2 carrots,
peeled
3 onions, sliced
6-8 cups water
fish bones and heads
(optional)
2 tsp, salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sugar
Place everything into an 8 quart pot
and boil, once it boils, lower flame and cook for a few more
minutes.
Part Two: Gefilte Fish:
I go to the local fish store and
purchase the fish and have the seller grind it for me, but you can
grind it yourself. In either case be certain that when the fish is
ground that no bones were ground up in it as well, or else, you will
get a bony crunchy taste, and will come to think that maybe your tooth cracked,
when it was really only the bones in the fish you ate!
Ingredients:
2 pounds finely
ground whitefish
1 pound finely ground pike fish
4 medium
onions, grated
2 carrots, grated
2 stalks celery, grated
5
tsp. sugar
5 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Pepper
1/2 cup matzoh meal OR 2 slices
dry challah bread grated, excluding the crust – I really prefer the
challah. After grating the challah or matzoh into fine crumbs, soaked
it in water for a few minutes until it becomes soft and soggy and
then squeeze out the water, before using it to add to the mixture.
4
eggs, beaten (don't add to the bowl until all the other ingredients
are mixed well)
Now mix all prepared ingredients together
and then add beaten eggs. This can be done in food processor or
mixing machine. Next use WET hands to shape the fish mixture into
balls and then drop each ball gently into boiling broth. When
dropping the gefilte fish balls in, leave space between balls so that
they do not mush tightly together. After all the balls have been
dropped in gently, lower flame, and cook covered on MEDIUM heat for
approximately 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Check water level every half hour and
adjust if necessary. Allow fish to cool before removing from pot.
Serve with horseradish sauce,
mayonnaise or even (as my son-in-law prefers) with techina in a
separate dish on the side. Many like to dress up the fish by putting a slice of a boiled carrot on top; it does look pretty.
~~~~~~~
from the September 2011 Edition of the Jewish Magazine
|
